You Don't Need to Drop $80 on a New Game. Here Are the Best Games for $50 or Less Right Now

CNET

18-07-2025

There's been a lot of talk about how much the cost of games could increase in 2026. It's already been confirmed that some AAA games, like The Outer Worlds 2, will be priced at $80 when they come out. It's ironic that a game that satirizes corporate greed will be carrying a higher price like that, but here we are.
However, another trend has quietly emerged over the past few months as well: Many great AA games are being released for $50 or less. A lot of these titles are currently on sale, too, so you can pick them up even cheaper right now.
As an avid gamer, I've found a lot of more affordable titles that are well worth your consideration. One is even the top contender for Game of the Year. And who knows, maybe one of them will end up being your new favorite game.
The best games for $50 or less right now
Claire Obscur: Expedition 33
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon
FBC Firebreak
Elden Ring Nightreign
Helldivers 2
Alan Wake II
The best games for $50 or less
Questline Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon $45 at PlayStation $45 at Steam $45 at Xbox
A newcomer to "scrolls-like" games, Tainted Grail has all the right ingredients. It takes place in Arthurian legend. The fabled King Arthur has already died, long ago, but not before he established a new capital for humankind on the island of Avalon. However, a Wyrdness has since settled on the island, and it's your job to sort it out, with some unexpected help.
Though it's a little rough around the edges -- my time with the game has included a number of bugs and crashes -- it has really solid bones, and the team behind it is actively working on patching things.
The magic system, itemization and world building are all good. You can really tell Questline has a love for games like Oblivion. I happily paid the $45 to support the studio, and I'm excited to see how it continues to iterate and improve on the game as development continues.
Genre: RPG, first- or third-person
Number of players: Single player
Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC $45 at PlayStation $45 at Steam $45 at Xbox
Hangar 13 Mafia: The Old Country
$50 at Target
The next instalment in Hangar 13's Mafia series isn't out yet, but it's looking promising. This time, Hangar 13 is turning back the clock to 1900s Sicily, where you'll be put in the shoes of Enzo Favara as he rises through the ranks of the Torrisi crime family.
I've played all the other Mafia games, and whereas Mafia 3 stumbled with its open-world format, Mafia: The Old Country brings the series back to its more linear, story-driven roots. Pick this one up when it hits stores on Aug. 8, 2025, for $50.
Genre: Third-person action
Number of players: Single player
Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
$50 at Target
Arrowhead Game Studios Helldivers 2 $32 at PlayStation $40 at Steam
I can't write a list of great inexpensive games without including Helldivers 2. It's one of my favorites, especially to play with friends. When you're seconds away from extracting off an alien planet, surrounded on all sides by thousands of bugs, with fire, lasers and missiles raining from the sky and your friends in your ear cheering you on or yelling at you for inadvertently blowing them to bits, it's a rush, to say the least.
As a Helldiver, it's your job to spread "managed democracy" across the universe, ending the threat posed by giant bugs, the voteless zombie Illuminate, and cold, terminator-like robots.
You're just fodder in Super Earth's endless wars, but until your inevitable demise, you'll have all its weaponry -- including massive, orbital lasers; automated turrets; and destructive napalm strikes -- at your disposal to obliterate its enemies.
Genre: Third-person shooter
Number of players: 1-4 players
Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S (starting 8/26/25), PC $32 at PlayStation $40 at Steam